because there have been some ignorant People in the Neighbourhood of the Place of my Nativity who did therefore refuse to hear that part of the Word of the Lord which was committed to my Ministration because they imagine or say I am not long fiâ—ed and settled in the countrey O Foolish People and Unwise Should any one therefore refuse to hear the Antient Prophets or Christ in the Days of his Flesh or the Apostles because they did not always tarry in one place Or refuse to hear the Jewish Priests who were in their time Worshippers of the Father and accepted with him because both Priests and People did three times in the Year go up to Jerusalem The right Practice and Inference from hence should be for People to hear such a one more gladly and earnestly and to lay hold of every Opportunity letting none slip because he is not always a Preacher among them How Ridiculous and Nonsensical would this seem and appear if People would not go to such Itinerant Judges for Justice because forsooth they do not come and inhabit in the particular place of their abode And it is a like Errour in Things pertaining to the future and endless Life to refuse to receive Knowledge at the Priests Lips Mal. 2. 7. Only because they do according to the especial Ordering and Appointment of God Run to and fro Dan. 12. 4. For the increase thereof and for the Publishing and communicating forth of the same Said he whose Example I desire to follow in this my Generation for hereby I shall have boldness in the Day of Judgment because as he was so are we in this present World Wist ye not that I must be about my Fathers businefs And so I speak unto ye my Country Men and Neighbours Would ye not have me to be about my God and Creatours Business What is that Some of ye may be ready to think and say Why To declare unto Jacob his Transgression and to Israel his Sin Micah 3. 8. To bring Jacob again unto him Isa 49. 5. And to endeauour to gain one Point that is if I could be somewhat instrumental by his Blessing and Grace and by the continued goings forth of his eternal Truth I will cry unto God most High unto God that performeth all things for me to bring over the People of this Nation unto the obedience of one of his Commandments for this would be an inlet and help and it would make way by degrees and in succession of Time to bring them over unto the Obedience of all the others I have often thought that if it shall appear at the last Great Day of the Lord when he shall write up the People and Rehearse from the beginning of the World all things as they were done that I was a doing the Work of the Lord all along as it seems to be according to his Word and Commandment now Thou shalt not have thy Brother in thine Heart Thou shalt in any wise rebuke thy Neighbour and not suffer Sin upon him Lev. 19. 17. To teach Transgressors thy ways and that sinners may be converted unto God Psal 51. How will they especially some of my nearest kindred according to the Flesh be ashamed and confounded who have opposed and reproached me and yet much more will they be ashamed and confounded who have Oppressed Persecuted and Imprisoned me Then the lying lips will be put to silence which speak grievous things proudly and contempuously against the Righteous Psal 31. 18. And they will wish that those Hands had been before that cut off which have acted cruel and tormenting things against me And they who did not hear but they did forbear for they are a Rebellious House yet now shall know that there hath been a Prophet among them That is one who did faithfully and truly declare and tell them of their Transgression and Sin One who neither had nor yet did pretend to have extraordinary Assistances or Measures of the Spirit nor yet more knowledge than others of his Generation But as Paul saith I thank Christ Jesus our Lord who hath enabled me for that he counted me faithful putting me into the Ministry 2 Tim. 1. 12. And He that is faithful in the least is also faithful in much So according to that Ability and Knowledge God had given me as his Creature I have the Testimony of mine own Conscience That I did endeavour all along to be faithful for the most part even to handle his Word According to the integrity of my heart and the skilfulness of my hands Ps 78. 72. And I would Not hide his Righteousness nor conceal his Truth Psal 40. 10. Which arose and he made known in my Heart Though when he Who gave authority to his Servants and to every Man his work and commanded the Porter to watch Mark 13. 34. Shall call me to an Account about this particular Work he had allotted and set out to me for it is here said That he gave to every Man his work Herein I shall give up such like an Account That as it was managed by me it was accompanied with several Failures and Imperfections Yet nevertheless this will be some joy and lessening of the other Grief that however I did endeavour to get it done and finished thinking it better to have it done any way then not at all The Lord opened mine ears and I was not Rebellious Which will be some hope and comfort in that Day I ought To have feared no more nor be dismayed neither be lacking Jer. 23. 4. In the last great Day of Judgment The Lord will shew who are his and who is holy and will cause him to come near unto him even him whom he hath chosen will he cause to come near unto him Numb 16. 5. At that Great Day of Decision all Things that are written in the Scriptures concerning his Church and People and concerning his doings towards the Children of Men will be fulfilled and laid open Then shall be known what Prophets have been in the several Generations and Countries The Lord will recount his Worthies and bring them forth by their Names who were for Signs and Witnesses to his People Then also those Things which are now in the Dark and which People are in doubt and question whither there is any thing of God in it will be brought to open Light And then God who is judge himself will speak and testifie Psal 50. 6 7. How He even He himself was concerned therein and he will make all his Churches yea even all his Reasonable Creatures know that he was God even their God and consequently they should have received him for their Lord and Governour Many more things might here be spoken as touching this but for the more full Declaration of them we refer you to the Hearing of that Day Both as pertaining how the Case stands between God and all Mankind in the general and also as to every Individual and Particular Soul For He who hath Created
horrible Suggestion did peep forth and was just perceived in my Mind as if it would be Unrighteousness in God if he should suffer me to be plagued and holden like other Men But blessed be his Name it was not so with me For he hath been with me in five Troubles and hath delivered us from so great a Death and doth deliver In whom we trust that he will yet deliver us 2 Cor. 1. 10. And he caused the Enemy to intreat me well in the time of Evil For in every Prison or House of Confinement I was in I had more favour and kindness shewed unto me then any other Prisoner But as to the former part of this Thought of mine a seasonable Answer did recur to my Mind on this wise viz If thou wouldst have God do more for thee then for other People in seeming like outward Condition then thou shouldest see well to it and endeavour that Thou even thou dost exceed and go beyond those my fellow Creatures and Brethren in Godliness and Holiness and by a greater Zeal for the Name and Glory of God and by a greater Diligence and Labour to Promote and Propagate his Religion and Truth in the World Through and by thy Sufferings To bring many Sons and Daughters unto Glory And if God should restore unto thee the joy of his Salvation and uphold thee with his free Spirit then to make the right inference and Practice afterwards Then will I teach Transgressors thy ways and sinners shall be converted unto thee Ps 51. 12 13. For I should be alike Zealous and Earnest for all the other Commandments as for those particularly for which I Suffered And so I should have reproved all manner of Sin and Transgression even in all People From the greatest to the least And so in the meanest all one as in the highest as I did reprove the Sin and Transgression of the Rich and Mighty People for which my doing they threw me into Bonds and laid Persecution on my Loins Holiness unto the Lord and Obedience to all his Commandments is what God indispensably expects and requires from all his Servants and Creatures But he looks for higher Degrees and a greater Measure thereof in his Prophets unto whom he Reveals his Secret and brings them near to himself For so it should be done by the Man whom thou choosest and causest to approach unto thee Psal 65. 4. and whom Almighty God doth delight to Honour The Psalmist Pronounces such an one Blessed For certainly the more Godly or the more Devoted and given up to God any one is he will have the more Peace and Comfort in this Life and be the more Happy and Blessed throughout all Eternity In the visible Church of God in the several Generations and Countries There have been all along Observed to have been those of the Devouter sort and so there was amongst the Philosophers or Professors of Philosophy a stricter sort then the generality of the rest And truly it is this Devouter sort and Stricter sect of Religion I mention this to all that shall Hear or Read these Words to quicken and exhort them unto the utmost Preciseness and Circumspect walking who when The Kingdom of Heaven suffereth violence and the violent take it by force They do also thus take it by force We Read that when the Lord was to descend upon Mount Sinah or when Moses was to deliver any extraordinary Message from God unto the People or the People were to meet with God Then the People were to Sanctify Purify and Prepare themselves four Days before hand and not to come near their Wives And what these did for a set Time his Prophets and especial Servants did throughout the general Course of their Life That is in the Things pertainign to God they did somewhat more than others Mat. 5. 47. For they were much more Godly than the common standard and size of Religion as it was then in the World But here I will speak of mine own Infirmities Instead of my being more Holy and Sanctified then others instead of my being harmless and undefiled and separated from sinners And whereas I should have exceeded the rest of my Brethren in Godliness considering what kind of Testimony I bore forth and I suffered for yet contrariwise I fell into a Worldly kind and manner of Life and did retain the vain and foolish things of Pride and the Fashion of this World all which was in no wise agreeable but contrary unto the Spirit of the Antient Prophets Good God! How much did I herein fall off and go aside from his High and Heavenly Calling This shews and hereby it may be discerned and seen how easy it is for the Things which savour of Men and of the fleshly corrupt Nature and of the Pride of Life to creep in and intermingle with the best and most Divine Works Now there was a day when the Sons of God came to present themselves before the Lord and Satan came also among them Job 1. 6. Even so in the most Divine Things somewhat of the Devil the World and the Flesh will come in and mingle therewith The best Men have most Temptations and the best Works meet with the most Opposition which would endeavour to defeat and spoil it And so when I was employed in a Noble matter wholly a right work to allude unto Jer. 2 11. I did not then so carefully and watchfully see to it as in duty I ought to have done least I should omit or be guilty of somewhat which would render it of none or of less effect But through my neglect and failure herein I wish I could speak it Weeping Satan got an Advantage over me as to serve his own Pestilent Destructive Ends in Letting Hindring and Resisting of Good I had need to take up a great Lamentation as to my self even To Weep with the Weeping of Jazer Jer. 48. 32. As I Remember from whence I am fallen And I should herein Repent and do the first works As I Recollect and can apprehend how very much I am now fallen short of what I was Originally Created unto I have often heard a secret and still Voice speaking unto my Spirit like that in the Prophet O Israel thou art my Servant in whom I will be glorified And so it hath seemed to me As if Almighty God had called me by my express outward Name O RICHARD STAFFORD Thou art my Servant and Creature in whom I will be glorified Truly this is a great word and belongs to every Inhabitant throughout the whole Earth whether Male or Female Bond or Free High or Low Rich or Poor they are all and severally the Servants or Creatures of God in whom he will be Glorified That is either in their Salvation or Condemnation The Lord hath made all things for himself yea even the Wicked for the day of Evil Prov. 16. 4. The Servants of God are such who obey him and keep his Commandments and do the Things which please
his Danger then he will be certainly Drowned and Perish Just so is the Condition of all People in this World We are by Nature the Children of Wrath as well as others And as such Death and Hell followed with him Rev. 6. 8. Like a cruel and devouring Dog doth run after and pursue us So that the same Word which the Angel spake unto Lot doth belong to â—…ery one of us Arise and escape for thy Life And truly unless we do arise and escape for our Life and unless we are warned as the Preaching and Ministry of the Word gives the warning and unless we take the warning which the Obedience to the same word doth As it is written By Faith Noah being warned of God of things not seen as yet prepared an Ark to the Saving of his House Heb. 11. 7. But if it were not for this we should certainly fall into the Damnation of Hell And those People who like Brutes Beasts go blindfold through the vale of this Life without any sence apprehension or fear of the Damnatino of Hell they will more certainly fall 〈…〉 The Reason why any are so fearless and unconcerned as to this as too many are is because they see it not But if Hell Fire was evidently set fâ—…h before their Eyes They would be at their wits ends and think they could never get far enough off from so terrible a thing Even as Lot did arise and escape for his Life to avoid the Flames of Sodom and Gomorrah So where they see it by Faith will reasonable people arise and escape for their Life to avoid the Fire and Damnation of Hell all one as we now see they do whatever they can to run from an Inundation of Water of from the Sword of a devouring Enemy In this last Instance when people fly from the Sword from the drawn Sword and from the greiousness of War Are they then without fear In no wise unless they shut their Eyes or are stupid and then such are soonest knocked on the Head Even so again it is here The last Enemy Death dogs us at our heels And as it is said in the Book of Revelations Hell follows with him And can then people live without fear And yet for all they who live most without fear of Hell will soonest fall into it I have read of Damocles sitting at a Table feeding upon Dainties and good Chear but directly over his Head there did hang a drawn Sword by a single and weak Thread Such an one as long as he did not see it might be without fear but if he did look up and behold it then he can be no longer heartily and really merry No more then Belshazzar could when he saw the hand writing upon the Wall In like manner The Wrath of God which in Scripture is called the Sword of the Lord is revealed from Heaven against all unrighteousness of Men and it hangs directly over all the Children of Disobedience and all the Sinners and Transgressours of the Earth by the single Thread of their uncertain Lives For this same Wrath of God will be really executed upon and sensibly felt by them after that their Breath is gone out of their Nostrils and their Souls are departed from their Bodies How then can any Live in pleasure upon the Earth and be wanton and nourish their hearts as in a day of Slaughter Unless to compleat the Paralel in this also Herein they become Like thâ—… Beasts that Perish As to be quite insensible and ignorant thereof Alas Notwithstanding the Brute Beasts are thus insensible and ignorant in the mâ—…n while they must at length come to the shambles and then they smell Blood and they would fain not go but they are pushed in Even so those who by multitudes are going on in the way to Death and Hell when they come near to the first then they begin to know and are sensible of the other also but then it is too late And the door was shut Mat. 25. 16. Time past cannot be recalled in a Thought neither will a Desire at the last gasp be accepted for a godly and well spent Life They who in the midst of Life and Health go on securely without the fear of God and of his Threatnings and in unmindfulness of their Latter End Even these will not be without fear when the Time is come that they must Die But the Soul will indeed Shiver and Tremble as She is taking her flight forth into the invisible World Or if she should be hardened and rendred insensible through a foregoing Deadness in Trespasses and Sins or through Bodily Pain and Sickness which take up and employ all her Faculties at that time yet after she is actually dissolved from this Tabernacle of Clay then if she is loaden with Sin and Guilt will succeed A certain fearful looking for of Judgment and fiery Indignation which shall devour the Adversaries Heb. 10. 27. For in the World to come there is no hardening against God or the sence of his Judgments Therein the Devils believe and tremble All people must and will fear one time or another But as the Wise Man saith Happy is he that feareth always who fears most in this World that he may fear least in the World to come For from this kind of fear that is a fear of God and a fear to Sin against him doth proceed a good Conscience thence is no fear that is slavish or hath torment Then comes Perfect love which casteth out fear But as it is written When the Sun was going down a deep sleep fell upon Abram and loan horrour of great darkness fell upon him So now the Sun of our Life is going down let it be both our Desire and Prayer and also Endeavour that a Filial and Reverential fear a great Aw and Dread of the invisible Lord God may fall and always remain upon our Souls and Spirits That for these very few now they are fewer then ever they were yet remaining Days of our Pilgrimage we may Walk in the fear of the Lord and in the Comfort of the holy Ghost against the time comes when we are to fall severally Asleep in the Lord Jesus and from thence ever to awake after his likeness It hath been fulfilled already as to the Inhabitants of this Nation and Generation The same is now fulfilling whilst I am Publishing these things and it will be yet fulfilled as to their â—uture kind of behaviour towards my Ministry For all will not believe though a Man declare it to them whilst I go in and out amongst them But especially it will be more evidently clearly and illustriously fulfilled after that we are all departed off from this Earth Behold I have told you before And they whether they will hear or whether they will forbear Why do not some hear and others forbear For they are a Rebellious House Notwithstanding now they call themselves Christians but as All are not Israel who are of Israel Rom. 9. 6. So all are not Christians at this Day who hold fast the Name thereof Yet They shall know that there hath been a Preacher among them who hath Preached the Words of God and of eternal Life Consider what hath been said and the Lord give you understanding in all things So Witnesseth RICHARD STAFFORD a Scribe instructed in the Law of GOD and in the Gospel of JESUS CHRIST As Paul was in the City of Jerusalem brought up at the Feet of Gamaliel So I was for the space of Six Years Educated at Magdalen Hall in Oxford FINIS LONDON Printed in the Year 1700. And are to be Sold unto such who Will receive the Love of the Truth that they might be saved 2 Thes 2. 10. And who will Consecrate their gain unto the Lord and their substance to the Lord of the whole Earth Micah 4. 13. and towards the outward labour and charge of Making known his Truth 38. 19.
Because that in the following Discourse the Reason is Recited and Answered why my Ministry is Rejected and not Received by this Ignorant but more especially Corrupt World therefore I thought it Expedient and Necessary to Publish the same EZEKIEL ii v. And they whether they will hear or whether they will for bear for they are a Rebellious House yet shall know that there hath been a Prophet among them IF we could now know and discern as we shall know and discern In the latter Daies ye shall consider it perfectly when we shall be actually carried forth from Time to Eternity then we should have other kind of Thoughts concerning the Things of God then we have in this Life and on this Earth Who shall ascend into Heaven That is to bring Christ down from above Or who shall descend into the Deep That is to bring up Christ again from the Dead But what saith it The Word is nigh thee even in thy Mouth and in thy Heart that is the Word of Faith which we Preach The Word of Faith will in a manner do all this that is bring down things out of Heaven that they are made known unto us all one as the things of this Earth This Word of Faith makes invisible things to be in a manner visible and things Future to be Present unto us Of this sort are the whole Scriptures of God which contain an Orderly Declaration of things which are most surely believed among us So that they are the Word of Faith which we Preach The Scripture doth chiefly speak of things which are yet to come and will be fulfilled after that we are gone off from the Stage of this Earth and we shall find it so upon the reflection and remembrance Of this sort is the Text I have here chosen which partly speaks of things Present and partly of things to come And they whether they will hear or whether they will forbear Hereby their Proof and Trial is had as to this present Time for this denotes forth their present kind of Demeanour and Behaviour hereupon But by that Phrase Yet shall know The particle shall is an Adverb of Futurity and by what is further expressed on That there hath been a Prophet among them is shewn forth a Recollection that so it hath been which they were not aware off and did not altogether so clearly discern then The Reason of my choosing this Text to Discourse on here is to this effect Inasmuch as I have been a Preacher unto the People of this my Generation and Nation for several Years last past and as yet my Ministry hath been Rejected and not Received amongst them whereupon I am forced to make this or the like return That I have spread out my hands all the day unto a rebellious people Isa 65. 2. I have laboured in vain and spent my strength for nought and in vain yet surely my work is with the Lord and my judgment with my God Isa 49. 4. As for every Sin there is some seeming excuse so for their not hearing the Word of the Lord at my Mouth There hath been such an imagination in the Minds of People To speak out those Thoughts of Heart it seems to be to this purpose As some did contend with Peter that he went in to Men Uncircumcised and did eat with them Acts 11. 3. So the people of this Nation have heard a certain kind of Rumour or Report That I have Written and Spoken sundry things in behalf of a Papist and inasmuch as Popery is not the truth as it is in Jesus as indeed it is not which I do hereby acknowledge as much as themselves From hence they would Fallaciously and Falsly Reason and Conclude That I have not Taught nor yet as long as I retain these Principles do I teach the way of God in truth And therefore it is that they turn their backs and they refuse to hear the Word of the Lord Preached by me If in all this I have not been unfaithfull to God nor yet in handling his Word Neither have we dealt falsly in thy Covenant Our heart is not turned back neither have our steps declined from thy way Psal 44. 17. 18. But I have affirmed his Word and Commandment only in the same manner as they stand Recorded in the Book of the Lord Then those non Hearers are convinced out of the Law as Transgressors for refusal or neglect to hear the Word of God is Sin and Transgression It seems very strange That those who seem to Preach and Talk very much against Sin yet themselves in this matter give way unto and are guilty thereof But it is no new or unusual thing that some speak against Sin in the general and yet at the very same time themselves are guilty of the same in the particular Nature hereof True it is that Popery is made up of Idolatry Superstition and Errour But yet we are in no wise allowed by the Christian Religion which doth command That ye resist not evil Mat. 5. 39. Recompence to no Man and if so it ought not to be done to a Papist Evil for Evil. Be not overcome of Evil but overcome Evil with good Rom. 12. 17 21. So that it is not true and uncorrupt Religion but contrary to it To Murder Rob or do any Evil or Wrong unto a Papist Unless People are become altogether ignorant and dull of Apprehension It is a most easie thing to be conceived and understood That a Man may be no Papist and yet do no Evil or Wrong unto a Papist Agreeable hereunto is the Will and Commandment of the most High God who doth not esteem Papists to be worse than Idolaters Strangers Heathen or Publicans of Old As to them God declares himself and his Will to be on this manner I will come near to you to judgment and I will be a swift witness against false Swearers and against those that turn aside the Stranger from his right Mal. 3. 5. Such is the Revealed Will of God And moreover it is the same Robbery and Injustice in the Nature of things to disposess or spoil a Papist as any other Person What I have Written in behalf of a Papist did amount to no more then this That meerly or so far only as he was a Papist he ought not to have been turned aside from his Right which I grounded from Mal. 3 5. aforecited And also from Lam. 3. 35 36. To turn aside the Right of a Man before the Face of the Most High To subvert a Man in his cause the Lord approveth not Which is as plain a Declaration of the Mind and Will of God as any thing in the World can be and altogether as plain and self-evident as that maxim is Whatsoever ye would that Men should do unto ye do ye even so to them for this is the Law and the Prophets In this place of the Lamentations it being said Man indefinitely it extends equally and all one to Sinner as to
him In these he is glorified to their own Good and Comforts But those again may be more properly stiled the Creatures of God than his Servants who live at random and in forgetfulness of their Maker and in these also he will be glorified to their own Evil and Punishment In that day there shall be upon the Bells of the Horses Holiness unto the Lord Zech. 14. 20. So it should be written upon the Fore head of each of us and it should be engraven upon the Tables of our Heart so that it may be continually in our Mind and Remembrance O Man or Woman calling Him or Her by their respective Names Thou art my Servant in whom the invisible God will be glorified As this following is a nearer and more honourable Relation Wherefore come out from among them and be ye separate saith the Lord and touch not the unclean thing and I will receive you And will be a Father unto you and ye shall be my Sons and Daughters saith the Lord Almighty 2 Cor. 6. 17. 18. Even so it is here it is a better and more comfortable Diversity for the Lord Almighty to say unto us Thou art my Servant in whom I will be glorified then if he should only say Thou art my Creature in whom I will be glorified For his Servants shall serve him Rev. 22. 3. But amidst the Common and Promiscuous multitude of Mankind There are many Rebels and Enemies in whom he will be glorified though it be to their Destruction And they come unto thee as the people cometh and they sit before thee as my people and they hear thy words but they will not do them for with their mouth they shew much love but their heart goeth after covetousness Ezek. 33. 31. And so by the outward posture of People and by their coming to the publick places of his Worship they make a shew of much Honour Reverence and Obedience unto God but their Heart goeth after their own Pleasure or Profit They are still for doing their own Will and for going after their own Thoughts They will sit a Sermon out but after it is over and they are gone from it they are apt to say Their Lips are their own Who is Lord over us There are those who are yet more Disobedient and Rebellious for they will not so much as come to the place of Hearing Others again will Hear and not Obey And another sort are forgetful hearers of the Word As when Jesus Discoursed of that True Bread which cometh down from Heaven and giveth life unto the World The Hearers thereupon said unto him Lord evermore give us this Bread John 6. 32 34. So it is evermore the desire of my Soul and so it is of all Faithful and Knowing People when we hear such an one is a good Minister Preacher or Teacher Lord evermore give us the Preaching and Teaching of thy Spirit For though the outward Teachers should be removed into a corner Isa 30. 20 Or if the lot of our Habitation is cast into a Barren Ground where is a Dead Ministry or Dull Teaching yet the Spirit within us is Life and by this Spirit we know the Things that are freely given us of God For what Man knoweth the things of a Man save the Spirit of a Man which is in him Even so the things of God knoweth no Man but the Spirit of God 1 Cor. 2. 10. Even so the Elect do know and discern more of the Things of God than other People even by the Spirit which he hath given them So they do now know and discern more of the Appearances and Doings of God unto the World and to his Church then the mixt Multitude Shall the Lord do any thing and not reveal the same unto his Servants the Prophets So his Elect Servants do know and receive them for such that is for those to whom God doth communicate himself more then to his Ordinary Creatures when the same was not understood by the generality of the People There was never yet any true Prophet of the Lord but who did approve manifest and commend himself to the Hearts and Consciences of some of his Servants And so it is that whereas the common People in the Words of our Text Shall know that is in the latter Days and towards the end of Time That there hath been a Prophet among them The Elect Servants of God know the very same at the Time and whilst the Prophet is among them Those Prophets were Ordinary or Extraordinary By the Ordinary Prophets I mean the common Priests who were to Read and Expound the Law By the Extraordinary Prophets are to be understood such whom God had Anointed with the Oyl of Gladness above their fellows To whom he had made known more of himself then he had done unto the common Stock and Level of Mankind The Denomination of the Word Prophet comes chiefly from Prophetare which signifies as much as to Cry aloud spare not lift up thy voice like a Trumpet and shew my people their Transgression and the house of Jacob their sins Isa 58. 1. And so every common Minister or Preacher of the Word as he is Faithful and True in the Discharge of that part of the Office may be called a Prophet both in the Old and New Testament Acceptation as when we read of the Schools of the Prophets Is Saul also among the Prophets By this Word is denoted that distinct Rank of Men such as are the Priests and Clergy among us at this Day And so we read in the Gospel For ye may all prophesie one by one that all may learn and all may be comforted And the Spirits of the Prophets are subject to the Prophets 1 Cor. 14 31. 32. But as one Man now is seen to excell another in Strength Greatness Beauty Wisdom or such like according to the manifold Variety of the Creation and Workmanship of God So the same everlasting God the Creator of the ends the Earth had also amongst them to whom he Communicated a greater measure of his Spirit and of the Knowledge of himself and of the things pertaining unto his Kingdom than unto others as we read in the example of the Prophets Christ and the Apostles Said Jesus Christ our Lord and Saviour I must go and Preach the Gospel in other Cities for thither am I sent And so the Prophets and Apostles were as Captives removing to and fro Isa 49. 21. And travelling from Place to Place for to Preach the Word of God and to make known his Truth And as Wisdom crieth without she uttereth her voice in the streets She crieth in the chief place of concourse in the openings of the gates in the City she uttereth her words Prov. 1. 20. So their Residence or Habitation for the most part was in or near the City of Jerusalem the chief City of Judea where the Palaces of their Kings Rulers and chief of the People were This I do the more willingly take notice of
these things that bringeth out their Host by number he calleth them all by Names not one faileth will not pass over nor let slip so much as one Man or Woman without Examination and Retribution when the Great Day of his Judgment is come Whose Providence is over the least Things even Sparrows and the Hairs of our Head He will Bring every secret thing into Judgment and we must receive for the Deeds done in the Body whether they be good or bad For we shall certainly be called into question for this Day and so of every Days Actions after that we are come to the Years of Discretion and have the knowledge of Good and Evil. I shall give Account of my Preaching and Ministry and so the People will of their hearing and profiting thereby As also they who refuse to hear who Contemn Gods Word and Commandment will be called to an Account Even those who now forbear and are Rebellious shall know and in the latter Days they shall consider it perfectly whether they would or not that there hath been a Prophet among them I pray God to convince and make it known unto the Inhabitants of this Nation That they may be Wise and Discerning in Time before it is too late and that they may know and come to hear the Things that belong to their peace before they are hid from their Eyes So much may serve for Explanation and Paraphrase of our Text and to illustrate the Truth thereof Now let us improve the same in some few Practical Uses and Inferences In the First place Seeing that these things are so Hereby may be perceived the exceeding Benefit and Advantage of a knowing and discerning Spirit It is Recorded of Issachar That he was Discerning in the Times and Seasons that he might know what Israel had to do This is written for our Admonition upon whom the Ends of the World are come To the intent that we also should be discerning not so much in the Times and Seasons as in the latter and last end of things that we may know what we have to do in this mean while in the Time of our Probation and Trial and how we may demean our selves in these Days of our Flesh wherein God doth prove us whether we will keep his Commandments or no. For truly if we did now so know and discern of the latter and last end of Things as indeed we ought and may know of the latter and last end of Things and we shall be at last forced to it when the End is come Hereby a great deal of Sin and Evil would be avoided and prevented in the mean while as also much Good and Duty might be done which now through ignorance and want of discerning is left undone Eschew Evil and do Good is all that God doth require of Man and the more any one doth eschew Evil and do Good in the several instances thereof it will be so much the better for that Man or Woman throughout all Eternity And according as the Knowledge and Faith of People is so they do one or the other If ye know these Things happy are ye if ye do them Said our Lord to his Disciples Nay if one did fully know such and such Things and consider throughly all the Reasons that persuade to it there also he would do them as we find in the Things of Daily Use and Experience For almost all Sin doth proceed and arise from want of Knowledge As for instance The Sin of Unbelief doth arise from want of the Knowledge of the Power of God what he can do As if any thing were too hard for the Lord which nothing is Had Zacharias at that very Time known that those Things he was told of Luke 120. would indeed be performed he had not been struck Dumb for his unbelief And so the Sin of Distrust doth arise from want of the Knowledge of the Will of God even what God will do And so when any one falls into a Sin through such a foregoing Temptation it is for want of a true and through Knowledge for such suppose and imagine that there is more good in the Temptation then really there is It is commonly said That if we did know before what would come after we should never do amiss Which is most true as to the Things pertaining to God and to our own future State and Condition As to which we should never finally miscarry if we would receive into our Knowledge all that God and Christ hath told us before concerning it Our Creatour hath done his part for he hath made us as Angels of God capable to know Things before hand and also capable to Choose the good and refuse the evil But this is the degeneracy of Mankind This is their fault now and will be their Condemnation hereafter That when they were Made in Honour yet themselves should wilfully become Of no Understanding but like the Beasts that Perish That is to be only for present and sensible Things but not to regard the Future and Spiritual which chiefly belong to Man to Mind because they are his greatest concern Saith the Wise Man Moreover that the Heart be without Knowledge it is not good Nay it is stark naught for such being Blinded will insensibly slide into the Ditch of Destruction As to those who shall finally and eternally Perish at the last Day The Return will be made and the Reason will be Assigned My People are destroyed for lack of Knowledge Hos 4. 6. Which will hold true as to that everlasting Destruction from the Presence of the Lord and from the glory of his Power It is not without very good Reason That the Duty of Knowledge is so very much inculcated and recommended in Scripture which was given to make us wise unto Salvation Teach me good judgment and knowledge for I have believed thy Commandments Psal 119. 66. To the same purpose is Prov. 1. throughout The neglect of Knowledge is threatned and condemned Isa 1. 3. Et. 5. 13. Et. 27. 11. Ps 32. 9. Jude 10. Prov. 27. 22. Jer. 8. 6. Ps 14. 4. Eph. 4. 18. Ps 82. 5. Ps 92. 6. 2 Pet. 2. 5. In a Word it is a very great Good and will be a great Gain to have the knowledge of the Things of God but chiefly of those things that are to come as well as of the Things present So it is a great evil and will be a great loss to be found without this Knowledge Secondly By what hath been aforesaid from the Words of our Text may be perceived the much yet greater excellency and preciousness of the Grace of FAITH Saith Paul Though I have all Knowledge and though I have all Faith 1 Cor 13. 2. Hereby may be seen that Faith is distinct from and doth properly succeed and follow after Knowledge So that we are right enough in making it our second Use and Application The Object of Faith is future and invisible Things according to Heb. 11. 1. But